After taking all of 2017 off from touring to focus on writing a new album, Judas Priest are armed with Firepower, the successor to 2014's Redeemer of Souls. There's been a lot of buzz surrounding this record, especially after the band teased the video for "Lightning Strike," the first single from the album, and now you can listen to it in it's full glory above and check out the album details below.

Call us premature, but it doesn't feel like much of a stretch to say that "Lightning Strike" holds up to the same standards as so many of Priest's classics. With a full production team behind them on this album, including Tom Allom who was at the helm behind some of their best albums, the renewed energy is palpable. The chorus burns with tasteful accent chords and well-timed China cymbal strikes from Scott Travis (which Rob Halford told us, "If that wasn't in that song, the song would suffer terribly") and layering of the singer's piercing screams to pad the hard-charging track.

“Tom Allom has got this classic metal thing,” Halford said about his producer. “And Andy [Sneap] is a bit more of a ‘modern metal producer’ but his thinking is a little bit different to Tom’s. And I think to get this balance between that classic old school metal to what Andy’s world is was just a remarkable coalescence.”

The riffing is menacing and just slightly over mid-tempo to give it steady yet triumphant edge with a touch of Painkiller in the guitar playing, which can never be a bad thing. We don't know what the future will hold for metal's first guard as the years climb, which makes each new album something to be cherished and if "Lightning Strike" is an indicator, fans are going to get a top-shelf Priest album. To dive further into the song, check out our interview with Rob Halford and Scott Travis further down the page.

Firepower will be released on March 9 through Epic Records and pre-orders can be placed here. The album will boast 14 new tracks, which are listed below the blazing album art.